Legacy of Battle

Adventure 6: Exposed Dangers

21

DEC/15

A few days following Captain Feril’s return to Lyrus, the group entertains themselves and drinks of the celebration that is the Festival of Leaves while staying in Soren. After a couple days of recovery, a mysterious note, written in a golden ink appears beneath their door and reads, “The reach is long and the claws are sharp, but it is not the shell that hunts. In turn, extend reach and sharpen claws, until the one can be made two. Follow the flashing copper…” Shortly thereafter, Lieutenant Borlin Trell of the King’s Guard calls upon them at the The Goose and Feathers and offers them a job, all the while walking a copper piece across his knuckles, glinting in the morning sunlight. The job; seeking out the fate of two druid brothers who sought the answer for the disruption of wildlife within the Elden Forest. Renn Guidden is tasked by Borlin to act as their tracker and guide through the forest.

The journey takes them east and then northeast into the depths of the expansive Elden Forest. Following the faint tracks of the brothers, they travel deep into the forest and come upon the recent ruin of a squat tower structure. The remains of an excavation camp surround the base and have cleared a path through the rubble and revealed a spiral stair beneath the floor, descending into the earth. Several bloody tracks are found around the clearing and the group is set upon by monstrous centipedes and a spider.

Once within the rooms below, they find evidence of a once fine arcane workshop and residence, though the rooms look to have been torn apart in a rampage. More giant spiders and centipedes inhabit the now empty rooms. In one area of the ruin are chambers looking to have once held various animal/insect species in almost zoo-like settings. Larger rooms next to these clearly used for experimentation and dissection.

Following a hallway that looked half-finished, the party comes upon natural caverns and a narrow tunnel leading further into the stone. At the base of a tall cavern, they are ambushed at the lip of a refuse pit by a large cave troll, who blocks their exit. Fierce battle wears both sides until the troll is burned off the wall while it attempted to flee. The bodies of the brothers are discovered on top of the pit, while several more bodies, lie beneath, and below those, the remains of various animals.

Returning to Lieutenant Borlin Trell, they return the bodies of the druids to the city and are thanked and paid for their efforts.